Thank you, thank you!

Still gathering the last few bits of sponsorship but it's looking as though we've raised £340.00. That is astonishing, and we, at FRED, can't thank you enough!

And yes, I do feel proud - really glad I did it.

I didn't lose much (if any) weight - but then muscle weighs more, doesn't it? And I didn't skimp on any foodie treats that passed my way......

I have discovered that reading can positively affect my swimming (although probably not as much as if I'd also watched the videos at swimming.org).

And swimming - or rather blogging - has affected my reading. Researching swimming techniques, how to embed links & how to promote a blog have just been part of it. Gathering relevant material by scanning newspaper headlines & following leads heard on the radio also become important daily activities for the blogger.

You'll have noticed  me teaching myself to blog over the past weeks. The dodgy formatting and the introduction of 'embedded' links later rather than sooner, in place of great screeds of copied and pasted web addresses bear some witness to how far I've come.

If anyone else is thinking of doing a blog to support a fundraising event  in future, this would be my advice:

• you don't have to write something everyday. You may brim over with ideas, but they gradually tail off - so keep it manageable.
• make your header simple - mine was too pretentious. Describe the charity, the activity and how to pay. The most common complaint about mine was from busy people who just wanted to sponsor me rather than read the blog. They couldn't see how to do this easily enough. 
• do try to promote it and your sponsored event everyday. When it's a new post, promote it via your Facebook contacts, if you have them. On other days, promote via your email contacts, a group at a time (family, friends, colleagues, former colleagues, social groups)
• be (relatively) shameless. Feeling embarrassed about asking is normal - but a good (not close) acquaintance of mine replied: 'I'll sponsor you for having the cheek - I know how hard it is from something I did last year'. You can't predict who will say 'yes', so you just have to try.
• make sure your event is truly personally challenging. If it's something you could actually do any day of the week I doubt people will sponsor you.
• make notes of possible material whenever and wherever you come across it. Sitting down to write with no inspiration is no fun!  You won't use it all. Sometimes you'll sit down intending to write about one aspect and it'll morph into another and you'll have material left for another post.
• if you are on Facebook, search for people and try them. Even if they don't sponsor you, you might, as I did, find several old friends.
• put up posters in relevant places - you'll advertise your charity at the same time.

Other advice comes via my sister again:  she blogged about me! But since she is a marketing professional, it is definitely worth another look.

Finally, do enjoy and do 'go for it'. It will be worth it!

Many thanks again

Catherine

Bone weary but proud

My last two swims dedicated to my father, recovering in hospital having undergone major surgery on Friday.

Friday's swim: I awake muscle-achey after 3 swims & a drive to Birmingham and back. Half the pool is privately booked, two people in the medium lane, so I share the slow lane. I start at the opposite end to usual so front crawl is achieved in length 14 rather than 13 as I still can't face going from shallow to deep on that one. But it is achieved and all other lengths also.

When I leave the pool I'm no longer aching, but after hearing my father's out of surgery & doing well, I find I have to sleep for two hours.

Saturday: Of course having slept in the day means I don't sleep at night! Not achey but weary today. Seriously lost count of my lengths so, to be certain, I did possibly 22 instead of the necessary 20. But it may even have been 24!

Front crawl is still traumatic and has to be approached by giving myself a preliminary pep talk: 'Slowly. Slow down your breathing. Take everything slowly. Slow arms. You can do it.' Even so I keep myself going towards the end, not only with this mantra, but also by remembering 'The Highwayman' poem by Alfred Noyes. Not at all suitable for slow rhythm really but, as I said, these last two swims are dedicated to my father and he read this to us at bedtime when we were little:

"The Highwayman came riding, riding, riding
Up to the old inn door.'

If you read the blogpost entitled 'Success, pride and the pleasures of persistence', 'The Highwayman' was one of the poems I used to enthuse one of the Forest View School groups during World Book Week. They adored the rhythm of the words (I made them close their eyes so they could see the pictures in their heads); they adored the fact that it was my father who had shared this with us; they adored also the fact that 'some people think it shouldn't be read to children' because 'it's a bit bloodthirsty!'.

Always a good plan I find, to appeal to children's desire to be a little subversive when you're trying to enthuse about something.......! I wonder if it works with adult learners too?

And on that note I celebrated my final swim with a final length of ......would you believe....Butterfly?!

There will be one final post in just over a week's time when I hope to share with you (and thank you for) the money we have raised for FRED. But of course, there is still time for you to contribute if you'd like to. Please  send any donations to:


Frank Rainer, Treasurer, Oaklands, George Road, Yorkley, Lydney, Gloucestershire, GL15 4TL

Cheques should be made out to Forest Read Easy Deal.  Thank you.

And now, I think I need some more paracetamol.......  :-)